Marinating has long been used to extend the shelf life of meats using salts, spices, and acids such as vinegar. New methods evolved to not only extend the shelf life of meats, but also to add value to these products. In addition to extended shelf lives, marinated meats also have a full, robust flavor from added spices and flavorings, they allow an enhanced eating experience by having improved tenderness and juiciness relative to non-marinated meats, and they have an enhanced visual appearance. Meat processors can profit from offering value-added marinated meat products. There is thus a need in the art for meat marinating methods that result in more visually appealing, flavorful, and juicy meat products.
Others have made efforts to make visually appealing, flavorful, and juicy meat products. Prior efforts have focused mainly on two marination techniques: injection and vacuum tumbling. U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,700 to Fleming, U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,221 to Lagares-Corominas, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,926 to Tanaka et al. all discuss apparatuses for injecting meat with marinades. U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,972 discusses a method by which different parts of poultry may be injected with different marinades or with different quantities of marinade. U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,599 to Cozzini et al. discloses a method by which a cold particle suspension in injected into meat, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,173 discusses a method by which a hot solution is injected into meat.
Vacuum marinating techniques suffer from the disadvantage that an in-line, industrial (conveyer belt) process must be interrupted, and meat must be marinated in batches. Nonetheless, vacuum marinating techniques are not uncommon. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,483 to Franzke and U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,567 to Peacock discuss methods for tenderizing meat in which the meat is tumbled and agitated under a vacuum. U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,013 to Karales discusses a related method in which meat is tumbled and agitated under a vacuum in the presence of a marinate.
Other efforts to impart flavor and visual appeal to meats include glazing. Glazes can be cooked or reheated under oven conditions to yield a surface coating with good sheen and an appealing visual appearance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,590 to Williams et al. discusses a method by which meat is marinated and coated with dry powders to produce a uniform thin glazing coat adhering to the meat. The coating is baked on as an elastic, rugged, adhering, glazed coating that remains through cooking, freezing, and reheating cycles.
The methods of the present invention improve upon prior methods for marinating meat by producing marinated meats with more visual appeal, and that are juicier and tastier than meats marinated by prior art methods. Furthermore, the present invention allows the process of marinating to be accomplished by a single, in-line industrial method, rather than a batch method, as is required by vacuum agitation marinating techniques.
The marinating methods of the invention can be performed in-line, and the devices of the invention can be in-line, conveyer type devices, thus enabling a processor to effectively marinate and enhance the flavor of bone-in and boneless meats and poultry continuously. A combination of ingredients and processes allow for the continuous in-line enhancement of the flavor, appearance, and texture of meat products with no changeover or vacuum requirements. The combination of the particular formulation of ingredients with the process as described below allows production of meat products capable of being stored frozen and cooked from the frozen state, and to develop a flavor profile that is the result of interactions of the various combinations of flavorings, seasonings, and functional ingredients.
The methods and devices of the invention further allow creation of a single flavored substrate with specific flavor requirements in each stage of the process, or various flavored products that may be produced in-line by only changing the dry stage of the process. The methods of the invention allow greater flavor enhancement than conventional prior art methods. The methods and devices of the invention prevent dehydration of meat products during frozen storage, and prevent individual pieces of meat from sticking together when they are packaged together. The methods and devices of the invention further allow color or other ingredients to enhance the visual appeal of the meats to be added.
This invention involves the discovery of a unique flavor system designed to deliver a desired flavor profile. The invention is of a functional system designed to keep different flavor components separate until they are cooked. The system allows for increased moisture retention in cooked meat. A dry set of ingredients chosen for flavor, and that may have a high salt content, is encased in a water/oil interface that allows for effective freezing without having to freeze the dry ingredients. The encasement of the meat and dry ingredients in a frozen shell with the ability to hold in water serves the dual role of protecting the meat from freeze thaw and freezer burn during extended storage, as well as providing a sauce for the meat when it is cooked.
The methods of the invention involve injecting meat with a first set of ingredients, coating the meat with a second set of ingredients, spraying a third set of ingredients over the coated meat, freezing the surface of the sprayed, coated meat, completely freezing the meat, then immersing the meat into a fourth set of ingredients. The combination of these steps and properly chosen ingredients results in a superior marinated meat product and a rapid and efficient production process.